York Old Tom Gin

The York Gin Company started in the place where so many great ideas begin – the pub. In this case, York’s award-winning Swan pub, owned by one of York Gin’s directors, Paul Crossman. In 2016, Paul registered the name York Gin along with his business partner, Jon Farrow; Pete McNichol, the previous owner of the Swan; and Harry Cooke, a local food and drink expert and now our head distiller. Separately, their neighbour, gin fiend and brand marketer Emma Godivala tried to register the name too. When she realised the landlord of her local pub and other friends had the same idea, she asked to meet them in the Swan. A couple of hours later, York Gin was up and running. Tragedy struck when Jon died suddenly. But the team were resolute about their project and knew Jon would want them to continue. Jon’s children are still an integral part of the team and they own a fifth of the business. The distillery is the only one within the city limits – at Acaster Malbis. Harry used his scientific background and experience of brewing to set it up from scratch. The centre-piece is their beautiful 300 litre alembic copper still. Every still must be individually named, so they called theirs Ebor – short for Eboracum, the Roman name for York. York Gin is created with vapour distillation - a very traditional method - ensuring a very consistent, balanced gin. The distillery has served them well – for over two years they have made, bottled and labelled every single drop of their gin here. It’s run on 100% green electricity and they run it in as sustainable manner as they.